2015 Speedo US Winter Junior Championships

Scottsdale Aquatic Club’s Ryan Hoffer took down Caeleb Dressel’s National Age Group record in the boys’ 100 yard freestyle in a big way on Saturday night at the Speedo Winter Junior Nationals at University of Texas’s Lee & Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center.

Michael Taylor is expected to take a shot at Ryan Murphy’s 15-16 NAG record tonight, but for this morning he was in cruise control. The Dynamo Swim Club swimmer recorded a 1:43.41, and it appears he will have little competition tonight if he approaches the 1:40.90 record.

Taylor was followed by SwimMAC’s Nathan Murray. It took 1:46.70 to make the A Final, 1:47.55 to make the B, and 1:48.66 to make the C. In the team race Bolles was able to get one swimmer, Andy Song An, into the A-final.

Women’s 200 backstroke

Kaitlin Harty, swimming unnattached/YMCA of the North Shore, led all qualifiers at 1:53.70. That time was almost two seconds faster than her next closest competitor. 100 backstroke winner Alex Walsh hung back in 4th place, expect her to move up tonight.

It took 1:57.98 to swim in the A-Final, 1:58.91 to make the B, and just under 2:00 to make the C Final. In the team race, SwimMAC was able to get a swimmer in both the B and C final, while Walsh could potentially outscore those two with her A-Final swim for 2nd place Nashville Aquatic Club.

Men’s 100 freestyle

Earlier in the meet, Upper Dublin’s Michael Jensen was the only east swimmer to go 19 in the 50 freestyle, this morning he was the only 100 freestyle to get under 44. He led qualifying in 43.76. A surprise mover into the final was 15 year old Drew Kibler of Carmel Aquatic club, who improved his seed from 45.55 to 44.67 to qualify 4th.

Bolles qualified three swimmers, two in the C-Final and Tyler Rice into the A-Final. It took 45.14, 45.46 and 45.67 to make the A,B and C Final respectively.

Women’s 100 freestyle

Isabel Ivey crushed her seed time by nearly two seconds to roll into the poll position for tonight’s final. The Gator Swim Club 15 year old leads a pack of expected finalists, including top seed Marta Ciesla from Pine Crest.

Another big riser was Grace Countie from Marlins of Raleigh, who jumped from a long course seed time to a 50.23 to qualify 11th. SwimMAC was dominant, placing three swimmers in the A-Final as well as one in the C. It took 49.91, 50.47 and 50.70 to make the A,B, and C Final respectively.

Men’s 200 breaststroke

Matthew Otto of Delaware Swim Club vaulted a lot of swimmers to take the top spot this morning in 1:58.65. In all there were six swimmers under 2:00.

Bolles Swim Club was able to get just one swimmer into the C-Final, but ultimately second place Upper Dublin was not able to capitalize in this event. It took 2:00.48 to make the A-Final, 2:01.68 to make the B and 2:03.15 to make the C.

Women’s 200 breaststroke

Allie Raab of Nashville Aquatic Club led the way in 2:11.22, but there are plenty of swimmers that could vie for a title in this event tonight. National Junior Teamer Savannah Faulconer from the Y-Spartaquatics sits in 7th but still has the fastest best time in the field.

Nashville ended up with two swimmers in the top final, with 14 year old Ella Nelson joining Raab. SwimMAC was however also able to qualify two swimmers, as well as placing two in the B-Final. It took 2:15.30 to make the A-Final, 2:15.90 to make the B and 2:17.82 to make the C

Women’s 200 butterfly

Crown Point Swimming’s Hannah Kukurugya swam a bold race to make it into the top spot this morning. She swam the first 100 in 54.90 before fading slightly to 1:55.76. Top seed Lauren Case from Chattahoochee Gold made it in second.

Nashville Aquatic Club was able to get one swimmer, Tatum Wade, into the A-Final, while SwimMAC scored one B and one C finalist.

Men’s 200 butterfly

NOVA of Virginia’s Ted Schubert added a bit of time this morning but retained his top seed going into tonight’s finals. He’ll be joined by Camden Murphy, who rocketed from a 10th seed to the 2nd position with a two second time drop to 1:47.12.

NOVA will have three swimmers in the final, as Aaron Schultz qualified 4th and Will Riggs qualifed 8th.

About Chris DeSantis

Chris DeSantis is a swim coach, writer and swimming enthusiast. Chris does private consulting and coaching with teams and individuals. You can find him at www.facebook.com/cdswimcoach.
Chris is a 2009 Graduate from the Masters of Applied Positive Psychology program at the University of Pennsylvania. He was the first professional athletic coach …